The Sullivan courthouse, once the home of the Middlesex Superior Court, has a decent chance of being demolished, Cambridge's city manager, Robert Healy, told the Globe last week. Its prisoners, the only remaining tenants, are moving soon; Cambridge has declined to buy it; and the state hopes someone will pay $40 million for it, which seems to be optimistic at best. The building is about a 10-minute walk from my apartment and visible from my eastward-facing windows. It's also 22 stories tall and occupies an entire city block, between Second and Third streets and Thorndike and Spring streets, in a neighborhood largely consisting of row houses, with only a handful of buildings taller than four stories.
The contrast between the courthouse's design, a concrete tower, and that of the surrounding neighborhood, pre-20th century wood-frame houses, is so striking and such an obvious example of urban renewal-era planning that it's incredibly comical. It's not even as though an entire neighborhood was cleared post-World War II for redevelopment, as happened locally to create the West End and Government Center. Only one square block was cleared, so the courthouse becomes the strangest physical accident, as if the developers and planners were run out of town in the middle of the night. (They probably were run out of town by contemporary East Cambridge community groups and politicians.)
Everything about the courthouse is so bizarre I almost wish it would stay. But then I realize the block, once the tower is removed, has great potential for new housing, both affordable and market-rate, and the only logical move is to take it down. Hopefully the state realizes this too.
2 comments:
I drive on 93 and see this monstrosity from the highway. I, like yourself, am intrigued by this behemoth structure in the middle of row homes (as they appear from 93). It's been 8 months since your posting, any new developments with this thing?
Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any progress on this. Thanks for the comment.
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